The blurb for Life Worth Living is a bit misleading in that the highpoints or defining moments of this novel appear to revolve around two episodes of violence when, in truth, what drives the story is more a character study, almost memoir style, of a young man’s obsession with a fellow student and the costs involved.

Poised at the interface of career and transition into full adulthood, Jake is bright enough to have overcome his past, focused enough to see his future unfolding, and vain enough to place himself at the center of his universe. Jake is out and proud, rather full of himself, yet he still harbors insecurities and a certain shyness that prevents the reader from dismissing him as a vacuous pretty boy. It’s a good thing because not only is Jake convinced he is all that and more, his story is told exclusively from his point of view—something that bordered on tiresome and annoying but for the author’s rather clever and skillful handling of how this vain young man comes to terms with the reality of wish fulfillment.

While we learn quite a lot about Jake, Quentin proves more enigmatic and perplexing. He makes claims to ignorance about gay sex yet his performance proves otherwise. We are told about his brilliance yet we have no evidence to prove that. What we do know is he is deeply closeted—the roots buried in his relationship with his influential family and what appears to be a self-centered determination to reap the economic benefits of a life of privilege while he pursues his career path. Quentin will consider coming out, but not until his nest is fully feathered… and then only maybe.

Quentin’s ‘will he-won’t he’ forms the crux of the dramatic tension throughout the book. It informs Jake and Quentin’s relationship at every turn, yet throughout much of the book it’s subsumed under so many sexual encounters that their brief summer unrolls as episodic engagements that border on superficial and transient, despite what Jake tells us at every turn. It’s no wonder that when Jake is victimized, it came as almost a relief to this reader who was searching for something more substantive than the endless progression of repetitive apologies and justifications.

There are minor characters who assume saintly personas in that they act as anchors, sounding boards and voices of reason—the kind of best friends who are the Greek chorus to the drama unfolding center stage—but the artifice rarely holds up in the face of Jake’s unrelenting self-absorption and Quentin’s selfishness.

Now, despite the fact this is one of those relationship-heavy dramadies, falling on tell rather than show, and focusing almost exclusively on a very narrow aspect of what constitutes the full spectrum of how young men assume the mantle of adulthood, the writing elevates an erotic romance in such a way that one becomes invested in Jake’s future even when Quentin is no longer on stage. Jake’s journey becomes complicated toward the last third of the book, yet these interesting bits where his life deconstructs and he falls into destructive behaviors is glossed over, and the denouement is too rushed to justify the reader’s investment.

I yearned for more action outside the bedroom and more insight into who these young men were at their core. I wanted and needed to find the inner strength of character afforded to the minor players and move beyond the confines of a relationship defined almost exclusively by sexuality.

Some lovers of romance might enjoy Life Worth Living. The editing is stellar, Jake’s character mostly sympathetic and engaging (Quentin not so much), the plot (what there is of it) is undemanding. Perhaps I should chalk this up to ‘not to my taste’—at least not completely—yet there’s enough to recommend in the ‘your mileage may vary’ category. I’m giving this 3.5 stars.

Jake has been in love with Quentin throughout college, studying the sexy science major from afar. Quentin has been in the closet his entire life, keeping his sexuality a secret from his political right-wing family. A summer romance brings the two men together but when Jake is attacked before graduation and then later in his home, the truth about the violence threatens to tear the men apart forever. Only when secrets are finally revealed can Jake and Quentin discover a life worth living.